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I am not a gun finish guy. I was a house painter/decorator for many years as I followed my father into the business. I never really tried to stain birch, knowing what kind of wood it was, I thought it would be a waste of time. I noticed that in the mid to late 70's furniture manufactures came up with a stain/finish, which was color in the finish that would be semi transparent. It was acceptable for cheap furniture but I wouldn't want it on a gun stock. I have used color in finish to "fix" blotchy worn mottled finish to blend the color. That looks OK from a distance but again not for a gun stock. Your results in these pictures is nothing short of amazing. Congratulations on figuring out a way to stain birch. These guns look fantastic.

I am not a gun finish guy. I was a house painter/decorator for many years as I followed my father into the business. I never really tried to stain birch, knowing what kind of wood it was, I thought it would be a waste of time. I noticed that in the mid to late 70's furniture manufactures came up with a stain/finish, which was color in the finish that would be semi transparent. It was acceptable for cheap furniture but I wouldn't want it on a gun stock. I have used color in finish to "fix" blotchy worn mottled finish to blend the color. That looks OK from a distance but again not for a gun stock. Your results in these pictures is nothing short of amazing. Congratulations on figuring out a way to stain birch. These guns look fantastic.

Considering how many guns I have done, and that one of my jobs at a gun company was experimenting with different finishes, I can tell you it doesn't come easy!

The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"

Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!

Most any alcohol stain or any of the proprietary solvent stains will work nicely to stain birch, elm, maple,,any of the light colored hard woods.

Leather dye works well because it is just that,,a solvent based stain.
Laurel Mtn makes some very nice working solvent based stains, I use them a lot.
Most fine wood working sites carry different brands and even have powdered dye that is mixed with alcohol or sometimes water for staining. Some mfg'rs blend their powdered dyes to be mixed with only their own solvent,,Behr does or at least used to do that.

The powdered dyes that are alcohol solvent are nice as they can be used to color shellac also for tinting finish.

You can turn a piece of birch to ebony black in color w/ alcohol/solvent based dyes.

Minwax makes three one step stain & finish products that can be used on finished wood. Polyshade is brushed on.
Woodsheen and their Wiping Stain and Finish are wiping stains , these are the two I like , applied with a foam rubber pad .
The color will be in the finish and does not penetrate into the wood, but it will darken. I like the wiping stain & finish for stock work.

My first center fire rifle was a SAKO L46 222 with a arctic birch stock. It was light blonde-honey colored. I thought it was attractive. It has been refinished twice in the last 60 years. I used a Min-Wax 'Fruit Wood' stain that darkened it some and, I thought, was rather attractive. OTOH I never did like the very dark almost muddy black colors of some black walnut stocks.

My first center fire rifle was a SAKO L46 222 with a arctic birch stock. It was light blonde-honey colored. I thought it was attractive. It has been refinished twice in the last 60 years. I used a Min-Wax 'Fruit Wood' stain that darkened it some and, I thought, was rather attractive. OTOH I never did like the very dark almost muddy black colors of some black walnut stocks.

A big mistake many make with walnut stocks, is immediately thinking they need to use a stain. If the wood has any decent color or figure at all, a simple oil finish brings out it's best qualities. The only walnut I like to stain is some that has definite whitewood, as is seen in some cheaper kit stocks.

The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"

Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!